kindred spirits art deco home bar
Home Bar Ideas and Decor
Welcome to Kindred Spirits Cocktails Vintage Home Bar! My Home Bar is a treasure trove of vintage and secondhand finds, each piece with its own story to tell. I love using vintage items because of the collected and eclectic feel, but also appreciate sustainable approaches, and secondhand is the way to go!
Home Bar Furniture
Vintage Home Bar
Okay this piece truly is the heart of the room and I still can’t believe it’s mine! Its such a commanding piece and offers an amazing amount of storage that makes it super functional in addition to how beautiful it is. I love using it to mix up cocktails for guests or as a stunning place to set up delicious grazing boards.
We found this on Facebook marketplace for an insanely low price. It’s absolutely breathtaking, made of solid wood, and has hand laid brass accents. Unfortunately I can’t find out anything else about it! If you know anything definitely reach out, because I’m so curious to learn more!
I love my other, smaller, pieces and still use them all the time, but there’s nothing like the drama and function of a dedicated home bar like this!
It also offers a ton of storage space - glassware, bulk bottles, and bar tools live under here for easy access when making cocktails.
Vintage Bar Cart
I just love this vintage bar cart so much! One of my favorite estate sale finds, I scored this beauty with a matching vanity seat and glass side table for $20!
This is my standard set up, with my bar cart behind the bar to display bitters I use frequently in these beautiful bottles for easy access, but what I love about bar carts is how they are portable and there are infinite possibilities with how to use them! I often move them around when hosting to set up cocktail stations or decor.
Vintage Lacquer Demilune Cabinet
1930s art deco radio bar
One of my favorite things in my home bar is this vintage 1930’s dry bar. This is the first piece of furniture that I bought to have a home bar when I moved to Vegas six years ago, and it has been a central piece ever since! We lucked out and found this beauty on Facebook Marketplace for a ridiculously low sum - something like 60 bucks. It was a little worn, but a bit of cleaning and polishing brought it right back to life. It still has a few nicks here or there, but I don’t mind.
1930s bar cabinets were a popular addition to many homes during the Art Deco era. These cabinets were often made of rich woods, such as mahogany or walnut, and featured geometric designs and sleek, polished finishes. The cabinets were designed to hold an assortment of bottles and glassware in a beautiful display. Some models even included built-in lighting or mirrored backings to showcase the contents, or open up a perfect serving area!
While we got most of the bar furniture cheap, there wasn’t really an inexpensive second hand option for us for the shelves that I needed to showcase all my favorite things. Plus, I needed a place to display my best bottles! So we put these shelves up ourselves.
We had the wood cut at Home Depot, stained them, and hung them up using inexpensive track shelving. It took us about a weekend, and it was really rewarding! We had to use special screws so that the shelves would stay secure in a concrete garage wall.
Back Bar Shelves for Garage Home Bar
Bar Appliances
Garage Home Bar Fridge
One of the best things I have in my home bar is this adorable little Galanz fridge. I got it by accident, when we moved into our new home and our refrigerator was back ordered with no notice. After a few weeks of living out of a cooler, we decided to invest in this cute little fridge and I’m so glad we did.
I love having this in the same space as everything else. It’s the perfect place to store syrups, sparkling wine, mixers like ginger beer and tonic, and fortified wines and liqueurs that need to be kept refrigerated. Did you know you should keep anything under about 20% in the fridge after opening? It extends their shelf life. For example, vermouth is a fortified wine that contains botanicals and herbs. It isn’t as high in alcohol as liquors, which are shelf stable. By refrigerating it, you slow down oxidation and help maintain its freshness over a longer period.
Additionally, I use the freezer for chilling glassware! This week we are talking chilling your glassware. This a simple yet transformative step in making a delicious cocktail. It not only helps to keep your drink cold and refreshing but also prevents dilution from melting ice. When you chill your glassware, it creates a frosty exterior that frankly just feels fancy! I love doing this because its a free and simple way to elevate your cocktails at home!
Having this fridge helps keep our regular fridge less crowded as well. I definitely recommend having one for your home bar!
Ice Maker for Home Bar
Sometimes we get carried away and focused on our super fancy clear ice (it’s me, hi, im the problem it’s me), and forget that we need a ton of ice to shake and stir our cocktails with! Luckily, this Gevi Household bullet ice maker is absolutely perfect for this exact situation.
I like to leave it running for a few hours and just pile in a bunch of amazing bullet ice into my freezer to have on hand. I store them in these freezer bags to protect them from freezer burn, and that way I always have the perfect bullet ice for shaking and stirring my cocktails. It’s also great for long drinks or coffee drinks like a delicious iced coffee or espresso tonic at home!
Espresso Machine
Whether it is for an espresso martini or an afternoon pick me up, it is so useful to have an espresso machine handy!
My Favorite Bar Decor
Wallpaper for Art Deco Home Bar
I think this wallpaper really brings the room together!
Vintage Worlds Fair Seattle 1962 Space Needle Jim Beam Decanter
This is one of my favorite things in my bar room because my grandparents have it to me! They met in Seattle, and my grandmother grew up outside Seattle, so when they saw this in a vintage store in the Adirondacks they picked it up and kept it for a bit. When I started Kindred Spirits they passed this on to me to sell, but I am far too sentimental for that, so it hangs out on my bar shelf instead.
This amazing Jim Beam decanter is in the shape of the Space Needle to honor the unveiling of the Space Needle at the Worlds Fair that year! This Decanter was a creation of James B. Beam Distilling Co., Inc. and bottled in Clermont, Beam, Kentucky. The 1962 Seattle Fair ran from April 21 to October 21, 1962.
1920s vintage cocktail shaker
One of my favorite things in my bar is my 1920’s cocktail shaker. It’s perfect for shaking up large batches of cocktails and looks amazing on a shelf. I love that it’s been the center of parties for a century!
Absinthe Match Striker
Have to highlight this fun little absinthe match striker this Saturday as I gear up to head back to New Orleans next week! I found this in a cute vintage store on my first trip to New Orleans and it’s one of my favorite things in my home bar!
Called a pyrogène in French, it was common to see a match striker on a bar or a cafe table throughout the late 19th and 20th century in France. reproduction of those found throughout late 19th and early 20th century France. For me I just love the weight of it, the bold design, and that it’s advertising absinthe, the first liquor to ever capture my imagination! There is so much amazing culture and history around absinthe (and a lot of incredible myths and political moves). It’s one of the most clear arguments for how booze shapes and is deeply intertwined with broader culture.
Home Bar Lounge Sign
We found this vintage lounge sign at an estate sale a few years ago and I squirreled it away until I could finally set up a home bar. It always makes me so happy to turn it on when guests arrive!
absinthe fountain
One of my favorite things in my bar is my absinthe fountain. This was a gift I received from my husband the first Christmas we were dating, and I absolutely lost my mind over it.
The first time I ever used one was in Paris when I was 23. I had no money but made sure to put some aside to have a glass of absinthe on the Left Bank. I love the ritual of it all, and I still feel so fancy for having my own and take absolutely any opportunity to break it out and enjoy absinthe the classic way with friends!
